Herbal Medicines Advisory

A new Herbal Medicines Advisory Committee (HMAC) and The British Pharmacopoeia Commission (BPC). 

Advisory Committee (HMAC). This Committee would advise Ministers directly on areas for which the Committee is responsible. The remit of HMAC would be the registration scheme to be introduced under the Directive 2004/24/EC on Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products and unlicensed herbal medicines. However, CHM will be responsible for advice in relation to marketing authorizations for herbal medicines. Professor Philip Routledge has been appointed the first Chairman of HMAC, for a term of 4 years effective from 30 October 2005. 

Methods and considerations for safety evaluations that are outlined in the U.S. Institute of Medicine s (lOM) Framework for Evaluating the Safety of Dietary Supplements provided guidance in the literature collection and review processes that went into the creation of this text (lOM 2005). This lOM document also highlights the importance of using experts from a number of fields related to dietary supplements. Consistent with this advice, an advisory panel of qualified experts was assembled at the outset of this project. All members were selected for their extensive knowledge and experience in areas such as medicine, clinical herbalism, pharmacology, biochemistry, or traditional herbal medicine systems (e.g., traditional Chinese medicine or Ayurvedic medicine). When knowledge of a particular topic or botanical was not found in the Expert Advisory Council, the experience and opinions of outside experts were solicited. 

An unusual, but positive, alliance emerged during the past decade. Numerous scientists and practitioners from traditional fields (pharmacognosy, pharmacology, chemistry, medicine, botany, etc.) have joined forces with herbalists and manufacturers and developers of health foods and herbal teas to promote research and information dissemination in the field of medicinal plants and herbal products. Thus, the Herb Research Foundation, established in 1983 with an advisory board of respected scientists in various fields, has been engaged in promoting research in the various aspects of herbs. Along with the more recently... 

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